Abstract
The well recognized changes in the blood chemistry in intestinal obstruction coupled with the clear demonstration of the fatal effects of the loss of gastric or pancreatic juice have brought about a modification of the older theories which held that the cause of death in intestinal obstruction was predominantly if not exclusively a toxemia. A definitely tangible and measurable syndrome of dehydration, hypochloremia, etc., can be shown to indicate, if not determine, the fatal issue in many cases. The conception that a toxemia arises from the absorption of toxic substances from the intestinal lumen has been largely restricted to cases of strangulation obstruction, with considerable skepticism that it plays any rôle even here. However, a number of observations in the literature seem to be reasonably interpreted on the basis that toxic absorption can and does occur, among them the reports of Stone and Firor, 1 Läwen, 2 Dragstedt, 3 Gatch, Owen and Trusler, 4 Roberts and Crandall, 5 and Tonnis and Brusis. 6 In most of these reports such toxic absorption seemed to be conditioned in part on an abnormal intraintestinal pressure either developing as a result of the obstruction or artificially produced.
We have attempted to study the influence of such degrees of intraintestinal pressure as may occur in intestinal obstruction upon the absorption of certain toxic and non-toxic substances from the intestinal lumen. All of the experiments were performed upon dogs anesthetized with sodium barbital.
In a series of 5 dogs efforts were made to note any variability of lymphatic absorption by a study of the thoracic duct lymph, after dyes, colloidal silver, emulsified fats, etc., were introduced into a segment of bowel which was then subjected to varying levels of distention either with air or water pressure.
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